Elio wasn’t even supposed to anchor Pixar’s June lineup. Three distinct calendar adjustments later, the movie landed its flag on June 20, 2025 causing rumors that the project was in jeopardy. It is possible to forget about those concerns. Adrian Molina—best known for co-writing Coco—guides the movie with a light step and a huge heart, serving up a space adventure that plays like The Iron Giant retold by the kid who’s always sketching in the back row. Eleven-year-old Elio Solis, the protagonist voiced by first-time actor Yonas Kibreab and whose halting, crackling performance struck just the right amount of the jittery truth of the boy. He resides at a military research complex, since his mother Major Olga Solis (Zoe Saldaña) is the director of a top secret communications project. One slow afternoon, Elio answers a garbled signal, is yanked through a wormhole, and crash-lands in the Communiverse—a cosmic town hall crowded with beings that look like marine life reimagined by modern sculptors. Because he picked up the call, the aliens assume he’s Earth’s ambassador.
